Other than the perpetual hunt for quality stories, readers get the easy side of things. We get the free books when sells go down. We get the story in full without the awkward grammatical errors and the never-ending run-on sentences. We get the fruit of months of labor, the finished product, the jewel of every hard-working author.

Oftentimes, we tell authors to write for themselves. That’s what writing is about: sharing your story with the world. It doesn’t always work out that way though. In the end, authors are writing for their fans who will feast on their sweat-covered novels after prying them out of their tired hands. Authors work hard, too hard. As readers, we can take some of the load off their shoulders or at least foster an appreciation for what they do for us. We have the power:

To motivate authors and to encourage them to keep up their craft. Reach out to authors. Tell them what you liked about their work.

To influence which books become the most popular. Share your opinion with the world. Don’t keep quiet.

To discover indie authors. We all love the popular authors because they write amazing books! Indie authors are often talented but unrecognized.

To appreciate the entirety of authors’ novels. In this case, I am a hypocrite. I have a bad habit of skimming details even though I love writing them myself. Details are the heart of the story, and writers spend most of their time perfecting them. Be a better reader and don’t skim!

I’m sure that we are all wonderful readers, but let’s try to be even more wonderful!

Because I have just broken past the barrier between wanting to write a story and actually being in the process of writing one, I decided to post on that subject. Motivating yourself to start is like trying to get out of bed with only one hour of sleep on hand. It’s like walking through molasses, but when you break past the sluggish wishful thinking, everything starts moving faster. You’re on land, and the dirt is flying. It’s freedom, but first you need to start. That’s really all there is to it, but here are some tips to help get your feet on the floor.

Choose a genre. Genre is an important part of whatever you write. Of course, if you already know what your are writing, you don’t need to worry about the genre just yet. You can always place your novel is a genre after it is finished

Love what you write. If you are passionate about your writing, nothing will be able to stop you, not even the dreaded writer’s block. Your passion will ignite a wild fire within you, and it will burn straight through your fingers onto the page.

Start wherever you want. It’s your story. It doesn’t matter if you start at the beginning, the end, or the middle. You can piece together what you write later. Make a Frankenstein out of your work! After all, Frankenstein did become very popular…

Make an outline. Maybe you have an idea for your novel, but it’s not completely fleshed out. You don’t really know what to write because you have no idea what you are writing about… In this case, you will need to make an outline, which can be either a short summary of your book or a detailed map of the chapters.

Set a goal. Although writing focuses on creativity, and it’s best not to start making your story about numbers and dates, it’s a good idea to keep on track with your writing. Setting a goal can also get you motivated to begin your writing journey! It certainly has motivated me. I plan to finish the first draft of my novel in two months from now. My goal is 80,000 words in 60 days. I’m a very schedule-oriented person, though, so this approach might not help you as much as it did me.

Force yourself to write. Although forcing yourself to be creative is nearly impossible, forcing yourself to let your creativity loose isn’t. All you need to do is open the gate, and your words will be free. Put your writing device in front of you, whether it’s a keyboard or a notebook. Honestly, this method didn’t work for me until I developed a solid plot, but it might work for you.

Be confident. Don’t be afraid of what you write. It’s not something you need to hide under your bed or in the bottom of your closet. Your writing is a masterpiece! If you don’t feel like your work is the best, just remember your skills will grow over time, especially as you start to write consistently.

Hello! My name is Hannah Richburg. I am sixteen years old, and I live in Kentucky with my six brilliant siblings and wonderful parents. I am an aspiring author and bibliophile. I will be writing everything about books for both authors and readers. As I am writing my first novel now, I will most likely post topics related to my journey. I will also be reviewing books for bibliophiles like me! You can subscribe to my blog via email to be notified whenever I post something.